HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — Amtrak has selected the contractor for construction of a replacement for the Susquehanna River Rail Bridge in Maryland, and awarded two supporting contracts for the projects, the company announced Friday.
The Flatiron/Herzog Joint Venture will be the Construction Manager at Risk contractor for the two new bridges and related track work, while an AECOM-led team received a project and construction management contract to complete final design and manage bridge construction. Fay Construction will demolish and remove 10 piers that remain from a railroad bridge built in 1866 that was located just east of the existing bridge. That work will begin early in 2024 and take approximately one year.
The current 117-year-old bridge between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Md., the longest movable bridge on the Northeast Corridor, is used by more than 110 Amtrak, MARC commuter rail, and Norfolk Southern freight trains daily. It requires trains to slow to 90 mph, creating capacity constraints. It will be replaced by two two-track fixed bridges, with accompanying modernization of catenary, signal, safety, and security systems.
“With the award of these contracts, we are one step closer to breaking ground on this crucial project that will unlock a significant bottleneck on the Northeast Corridor, reduce trip times, and improve reliability for passenger and freight travel across the northeast,” Laura Mason, Amtrak executive vice president, capital delivery, said in a press release.
The bridge received $2.08 billion in funding as part of a package of $16.4 billion for 25 projects on the Northeast Corridor [see “President Biden announces $16.4 billion in funding …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 6, 2023]. Design work is expected to be completed in 2024 with construction beginning in 2025. More project information is available here.
How long before a “Save Our Bridge” historic preservation group emerges on this project?
Hopefully the news will travel to North Dakota slowly!
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Sorry hit the wrong key. It requires trains to slow to 90 mph creating capacity constraints ??? Do you think that’s a miss print?
In the NEC (Nothing Else Counts), slowing down to 90 is a capacity restraint.
Not a mis-print.
Moreover on the Perryville side ROW is 4 tracks while bridge is 2 tracks.
NS curve to/from the Port Road is limited to 15 mph (very sharp curve). Freight trains Baltimore-Perryville-Harrisburg/Enola have to cross all Amtrak tracks, usually at Havre de Grace. Yard at Balto is on East side of AMTK while Port Road is on West side.
Freights almost always run in the wee hours when there are few passenger trains.